Not Quite Alice
by 4-Evah-Anonymous
Summary: Every generation, one child from the Liddel line has been taken by a world called wonderland. Alois' parents have taken great measures to save their son but these plans fail. Will Alois meet the same fate as those before him? I suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**! I'M BACK GUYSSSSSSSS! I KNOW IT'S SO SHOCKING ISN'T IT! AND YESSSS I'M SPITTING OUT A NEW AiW STORY! HOPEFULLY NONE OF YOU HATE ME FOR THIS?**

Never was there a line this long in human history. Or at least not by the standards of the students at St. Jane's High School. There were roughly 630 students in the entire school. Not that many for a school in New York City. But it seemed much more than that when more than half of them were waiting in line to buy lunch. Usually most of the students (both boys and girls) who attended either brought their own lunches or didn't eat. But no. today, it seemed, everyone had forgotten to pack so, they would all be stuck in a line longer than whole cafeteria. This was not an exageration, mind you. About five or six students trailed out the double doors and into the hallway. One of these poor, unfortunate souls was Alois Arkwright. He had fallen asleep in his geometry class again and not heard the bell ring. But it did. And he was late to lunch, and therefor cursed to wait at the back of the rediculous line.

No wonder he was late. No one cared to wake him or tell him where to go. He had spent his whole first week completely lost in the huge Catholic school. Now it wasn't as bad but he would still get all turned around between classes. No one helped him because no one cared to anymore. Alois had tried to have friends but it never worked out. Alois was just too moody or his family was just too weird. Not that he was arguing. His family was quite weird. His father, Jordan, was like most fathers in some ways. He sat on the couch and yelled at the TV during a football game. But that was only once in a while. The rest of the time, he was at work as an elementry school teacher or he was out with Alois's mother, visiting her mother in the hospital. This wasn't the weird part though. Alois's mother and grandmother were. His mother, Elizabeth would always have her eye on any friend Alois ever had. Recently she had begun to question them extensivly whenever Alois wasn't in the room. Then it got weirder. The only one of Alois's ex-friends to ever meet his grandmother was a girl named Reina. Grandma Alice had beconed her over to the hospital bed and began to shake her violently, screaming something in another language.

The doctors chalked it up to her losing her mind with age but still, Alois was never aloud to see Reina again. The time had come where he had lost so many friends that he just wasn't trying anymore. He sat in the backs of classes, sleeping through most of them. He pushed his way through crowds as stelthily as he could, going from class to class as fast as he could. He wore his uniform dutifully without making any changes or doing anything to get him noticed. He hardly cut his hair anymore so it fell to his shoulders and into his eyes. It was more often than not frizzy. It was honey blond with thick curls forming a messy mane around his head. from within the veil of golden curled bangs that reaced his chin, his two clear blue eyes watched the groups of happy children, laughing with their friends, going to find a seat.

Alois sighed and was about to give up on getting lunch when a lyrical voice said his name.

"Alois? Your name is Alois, right?"

Alois looked over to the source of the voice. It was the boy standing in line infront of him. He seemed to be a senior, just like him, but with soft almost childish features. His silvery blond hair hung pin-straight, framing his pale face. The boy's left eye was a pinkish-red color while the other was covered by a plain black eye-patch. He was at least half a head taller than Alois, but that wasn't hard to do, considering Alois was one of the shortest people in school.

"Yeah." Alois answered cautiously. "Who are you...?"

The other boy smiled but didn't show his teeth. "My name is Klaus Whitt." He held out his hand for a shake and Alois took it. He glanced down and noticed Klaus was wearing a pair of fancy-looking white gloves. He frowned suspiciously but the other boy was all smiles. He even took it apon himslef to brush some of the blond curls away from Alois' face. "there. Much better. Now I can see your eyes."

Alois frowned slightly and his face flushed in embarassment. So ended his state of non-existance. Luckily he only had three more classes after this and then he could go home, where he was sure no one would notice him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**(AN: I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THIS SET OF SYMBOLS AGAIN!)**

As soon as he was in the foyer of his old two story house, he shut and locked the doorbehind him. So far he had had Klaus Witt in all of his last three classes. Some of them Klaus would talk to him through and others (mainly biology, when they were seated across the room from eachother) Klaus wouldn't say a word. But Alois could always feel himself being watched. It unnerved him and scared him a little. He was glad to be home, where, hopefully, he would be alone for a good few hours. He sighed as he tossed his back pack onto a chair at the kitchen table and read the note that was pinned to the refridgerator by a magnet.

'_Alois, _

_Your mother and I have gone to visit Grandma Alice. We'll be back in about two or three hours. We have to get some stuff from the store too. _

_See ya later, Squirt,_

_Jordan._

_P.S. Don't eat the ribs in the fridge. They're mine._'

Alois yawned and opened the fridge door. He pulled out an apple and chomped on it. He never knew why his father signed the notes using his first name. Couldn't he just as easily say 'dad'? He sighed boredly and slumped into a seat at the kitchen table and pulled out the monstrously large text book that was issued to them for english class. Just looking at the cover made him want to slam his head into a wall. He opened it and glared at the page full of questions about a short story that his class had read recently. He tore a page of lined paper from his notebook and proceeded to do his dreaded homework.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

At about 5:00, His parents returned home and informed him that they would be picking him up from school the next day so that they could all go visit Grandma Alice together. Alois didn't really mind but he had to admit that when he was younger, he was afraid of his grandmother. Now that he was older, he wasn't so much afraid as he was disturbed. He still loved his Grandmother but the nervousness he felt around her was strange. Too strange for him. Still, he had no way to argue himself out of a visit.

They all ate dinner together, at the kitchen table. Talk was light-hearted and laughter was shared and for once, Alois' life was normal. So blissfully normal that he treasured every second of this sweet serenity. And he would certainly treasure it forever. But their peace was shattered.

The doorbell rang.

**THERE YOU GO!PLEASE REVIEW. I HOPE THIS DOES(PLEASE REVIEW.) NEARLY AS WELL(PLEASE REVIEW.) AS MODERN ALICE. PLEASE REVIEW. PLEASE REVIEW.**


	2. Chapter 2

Jordan frowned and stood to look at the clock on the wall. It was 6:25. "I wonder who that could be." He walked over to the door as the doorbell rang once again. " I'm coming! Hold on a minute!" He called, obviously getting annoyed. He swung the door open and Alois could hear his father's voice from the kitchen, though he couldn't see him or whoever was at the door.

"Hello? Can I help you, sir?" Jordan's voice asked from the foyer.

Alois heard no answer. In fact, he didn't hear anything. After his father had spoken, everything became totally silent throughout the house. Even his mother, who had been eating her green beans, stopped her chewing to listen for a response.

Any response, Thought Alois, ears straining, just somebody say something, please!

Then, all of a sudden, there was a sharp gasp from his father and a single shout of, "_**ELIZABETH**_!", cut abruptly short.

In a single moment, Elizabeth leapt to her feet, sending her dinner plate crashing to the floor. She grabbed onto her son's arm roughly and dragged him to his feet, pushing him to the back door. Alois could clearly hear footsteps, slow and heavy walking slowly into the house. The sound of booted heels clacking ominously against the polished wood flooring reverberated through his ears like a warning alarm.

"_Mom_!" Alois' voice sounded frantic, even to his own ears as questions poured out of his mouth like projectile word vomit. "Mom what's happening! Who's here? Where's dad! What's going on?"

But Elizabeth didn't answer any of her son's questions. She snatched up a large chopping knife from the kitchen counter. It still had bits of meat and fat clinging to it from when she had cut the stake into pieces for dinner. The sharp blade was otherwise unstained and as sharp as ever. "Go! Just run, Alois, run and don't look back! Go to the hospital! Grandma will explain!" And with that, Elizabeth pushed Alois out the doorway and slammed the door. He heard the tumblers in the door turn and lock. Then there was a scream of rage, a roar, and the sound of smashing glass.

Alois did as he was told and ran.

That was the last time he ever saw Elizabeth Arkwright.

As he ran, the street lamps switched on around him. The sun had set. Night had fallen. And Alois began to cry.

The tears stung at the corners of his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. The cold New York air whipped his face and his heart beat was rapid and painful. He couldn't breath. He wanted to stop running. Needed to. But he knew he couldn't. He didn't know why he couldn't. He had left his house far behind now. But he just couldn't. As soon as he got to a more well lit place with stores and people and bustling traffic. Then he would stop.

And he did. He slumped down on a bench right outside a two story H&M. He was shaking and he felt his tears, dry on his face. He jammed his hands in his pockets to warm them and blinked. There was something in his pocket. He pulled it out.

Money.

The money that his mother had given him for a lunch that he never got to buy. There was extra there aside from the ten dollars for lunch. He always kept some of his allowance with him in case after school he needed to get a cab ride to the hospital or home.

And, boy do I need that now. He thought. He stood up and hailed a taxi. When one stopped, he climbed into the back seat and buckled in. "where ya goin', kid?" the cab driver asked, putting out his cigarette in an ashtray he had set in the cup holder.

"Lenox Hill Psychiatric Hospital..."

The cabbie whistled and glanced back at him. "Jeez kid, why do ya wanna go there?"

"Visiting." Was all Alois could say. He didn't think he could muster up more words than that. The cab driver shrugged and drove off without another word.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The cab came to a stop just outside Lenox. Alois paid the driver and got out of the cab. He looked up at the hospital. He shivered. He always hated places like this, with their windows sealed shut and their patients on so much medication, at first, that they can't figure out what to do with themselves. He had seen people who had only been in the hospital a matter of days. They were so drugged up that they couldn't even get out of bed.

Alois sighed and swallowed his fear. He walked inside through the automatic doors. He went to the front desk and frowned at the woman sitting there. She was maybe 40, with her mousy brown hair pulled into a tight bun and her sharp-rimmed glasses slid down her nose. She seemed more like a librarian to him than anything else. "Can I help you?"

I looked her straight in the eyes and was finally able to form words again. "I'm here to see Alice Liddel."

She frowned but nodded slightly. "Come with me. Make it quick."

_Not likely,_ thought Alois with a sneer as the woman turned her back. _Something has happened to my parents and my grandmother has the answer to why. And I'm not leaving without answers. 'Make it quick', my ass!_

The woman led him down a long hallway and over to the door marked 'Liddel, A.'. The woman knocked and called, "Mrs. Liddel. You have a visitor."

A voice from within the room called back, "Really? Come in!" The voice was familiar and Alois could associate it with the face of his grandmother but not with much else. He couldn't see his grandmother baking him cookies or reading him a bed time story. He barely knew her but here he was at the door of her room, about to ask what had happened to his parents? Where they were? What was happening? Where they still Alive? How could he trust this perfect stranger with the information of what happened to him that night?

But he had to and he knew it. Grandma Alice was his only hope. The woman opened the door and shoved Alois inside. The door closed behind him. He looked over to the shape of the old woman sitting on her bed, by the window. Moonlight streamed into the room and lit it just barely. Alois' voice was quiet. "H-Hello, Grandma..."

The woman turned and smiled sadly at him. "Good evening, Alois." Her face was pale, lined and gaunt. There were dark rings under her eyes and her snow white hair fell long in unruly curls just like Alois'. "It's happened, hasn't it? He's come."

Alois walked over to her hesitantly. "Who's come? What happened to my parents?"

She smiled sadly at him again and patted the bed next to her. He sat down. She took his hand with her own shaking, stick thin, brittle one. "First things first, Alois. I have to tall you the truth. Elizabeth and Jordan are not your parents. Elizabeth was a friend of mine when I was a child. We grew up together."

"But-" Alois began. _But your like, 60! She's only 37!_ He finished in his mind.

"Yes, I know, I look too old. But when we were both ten years old, _He_ showed up. He whisked me away to another world. A corrupt and dark world full of terror and despair. A world that, he said, was my family's fault. And I had been chosen to pay the price."

Alois' mind was whirling with questions, but all he could say was, "Who's 'he'?"

"_The White Rabbit_." She hissed. "I escaped that awful place, but not before their Queen had drained me of my childhood. I went from being 10 to being 35 in no longer, well-in this world, than a day. Now the White Rabbit has come back from Wonderland. He found out about you and you've been chosen, Alois!"

Alois could have fainted right there. But he didn't. "My parents...Where are they...?"

She shook her head. "I can't say for certain but they are definitely somewhere in Wonderland. Besides, like I said, they aren't your parents." She took a deep breath. "When I came back, I became pregnant years after. I gave the baby first to my elder sister, well- younger at that point. She was 30. She gave her to Elizabeth, who agreed to take him in at 26. You've been raised under the pretence that Elizabeth is your mother. But she's not." She took another deep breath.

"I am."

Alois' breath caught in his throat.

"You aren't an Arkwright. Your a Liddel."

A voice spoke from the doorway. The speaker was tall with pure white hair, pale skin and one gleaming red eye. The other was covered by a fancy black eye patch with a red heart in the middle. Alois' eyes widened as he finally managed to speak.

_"Klaus...!"_

**AN: AWWWWW SHIZ! review pweez? I'll give you a virtual cookie?**


	3. Chapter 3

In a flash, Alice was on her feet and pulling Alois up beside her. She turned her head towards him and whispered quickly, "You have to go. The only way to save Elizabeth and Jordan is to go to Wonderland. I wish you didn't have to but wishing rarely serves our family well. There's a special dagger in the bedside table drawer. Take it. You'll need it."

It was a lot for Alois to process but at the moment, his body was running on auto-pilot. He nodded his head jerkily, like a marionette being controlled by some other force. Alice pushed him away from her as Klaus drew something shiny from his pocket. It glinted brightly in the light from the moon. He shone it towards Alice and Alois caught what it was. It was a watch. A large silver pocket watch. The hands began to move faster and faster clockwise but Alois couldn't tell what was happening.

Until he looked at Alice. He gasped in horror. His mother was aging fast. Her skin wrinkled and cracked and her eyes became dull and blind. There were cracking noises as her bones decayed. She reached out a hand to Alois and said one word.

"Go..."

Then it was over in a sickening noise like the noise you get when you crack your knuckles. Her brittle old wrist snapped and her hand came clean off. There was no blood. It had all dried up and become a sand-like rust-colored substance that poured out of the stump where her hand used to be. The second the disembodied hand hit the ground, it crumbled into dust as well. Her entire arm came off next, then her legs crumbled from beneath her and then her head hit the ground.

Soon, nothing was left of Alice Liddel except for a pile of dust and a shriveled, gray heart, sitting in the center of the pile. That too, beat it's last and crumbled into gray dust.

It took Alois a moment to react. Klaus turned to him, putting the watch away, and smirked. He held out a gloved hand. "Well, Alois. I'm the White Rabbit. And it seems you've been chosen. Come along, now, lets not make this difficult."

Alois said nothing. He turned swiftly and yanked out the table's drawer. He snatched up the dagger inside. It was too dark to see but the metal felt strangely warm in his hand. Klaus stood blocking the exit. Alois turned frantically and threw the window open. Klaus shouted in annoyance and strode quickly towards him. Alois barely avoided the snatch of Klaus' hand by leaping clumsily through the window.

He was rolling down hill fast. Twigs and rocks scratched at him as he past. Alice's room had been on the first floor. But Lenox Hospital was built on a hill. The hill that Alois was currently rolling down. A low hanging branch of a tree caught and tangled in his hair. He let out a cry and tried to pull himself free. It wasn't working. The branch was caught tightly in his curls. He struggled painfully for a few minutes until Klaus stood over him. He wasn't sure where he had come from or how he got there so quickly but there he was, casting an ominous shadow over Alois.

He smirked. "How pitiful. Well, at least you were fun to watch." He kneeled down in front of Alois and jabbed him sharply in the shoulder. Alois yelped and felt consciousness leave him. He slumped on the ground, limply as he descended into darkness. Klaus smirked. "At least you put up a fight." He smirked and drew a knife. He cut Alois' hair where it got caught on the branch. It fell to his jaw now. Klaus lifted Alois up and slung him over his shoulder. He snapped his fingers and a dark hole appeared in the ground in front of him.

Klaus smirked at his victory and stepped into the hole. They started plummeting down. Down into the sick world that he called home. Down into Wonderland.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Alois woke up, there were heavy manacles around his ankles, holding him to the wall. He struggled into a sitting position and found himself in front of a magnificent throne. It had a silver frame and had glinting red jewels in the shape of hearts set into it. The cushion was also red. On it sat a beautiful woman of about 20 years old. Her hair was long and red and tied up in a black ribbon. Her skin was pale and flawless and her lips were painted the color of blood. But under her beauty, Alois could see something sick. Something dark. Her eyes showed years and years of despicable actions and dark thoughts. Her eyes were black. Black as the deepest void but there was a fire burning behind them. A fire of hatred that was focused right on Alois.

"You've been chosen, have you?" She asked. Her voice was cold and cruel. "Well. I'll make you an offer." She stood up. She was very tall, Alois saw, almost six feet tall, in fact. "You can meet the same fate as the rest of your family and be absorbed by this world. Or you can drink this," She produced a small vile and dangled it in front of Alois between two black-painted fingernails. "It will make you part of this world. This place will become your home. And you may have the honer of serving me for as long as you live. Which will be a long time. Wonderlandians do not age so they cannot die of old age. Not like you pitiful humans."

Alois felt his throat go dry. _So it's between death or eternity serving this woman... He thought, Neither sound very appealing...But wait! _He reached out for the vial. _I can make another option... _He uncorked it. _I'm going to save my family! _He downed the contents in one gulp. It tasted sickeningly sweet and cold as ice on his throat. He felt that cold spread throughout his body. He lowered the vile and let it roll across the stone floor. He saw a satisfied smirk twist the woman's face.

"Very good. Maybe your not as stupid as your family."

Alois jammed his hands into his jacket pockets, trying to warm the spreading sensation of cold. The moment he did that, he felt his hand close around something. It felt like a handle of sorts._ The dagger! _He thought quick and drew it out of his pocket and it's sheath in one swift motion. He hacked once at each of the chains around his ankles and they crumbled as if they were made of wet sand. He turned and stabbed the woman in the arm. She let out a heinous screech,

"_**GAURDS! KILL HIM!**_"

Alois yanked the dagger out of her flesh and leapt to his feet. He ran as fast as he could out the door of the throne room and down the long corridor outside of it, all the while hearing the woman screech and stomping footsteps approach.

_There has to be a way out! There has to! _He started trying doors. They were all locked until he finally came to one at the end of the hall. He opened it and revealed another, smaller door. then another after that. Finally after three doors, he could crawl through into the next room. When he stood up, the doors slammed and locked behind him. He jumped and looked around. There was nothing in the room. The walls were lined with mirrors. In each one, he saw himself, just as he was then. Except for one. In that one he saw darkness and trees with purple leaves and eyes glinting at him from within that darkness. Many sets of eyes.

Alois nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of banging on at the door. It was hard and loud and probably forceful enough to break the doors open. Alois didn't stick around to find out if that was true or not. He turned, held his breath, shut his eyes and stepped through the mirror.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When his eyes opened, he was in the scene he had seen through the mirror. He looked around. The trees had dark blue bark and purple leaves. Strange creatures sat in the trees, staring down at him. They were unlike anything he had ever seen. Some had small dark beady eyes and were no bigger than his hand. Others were huge menacing shapes with large glowing eyes and teeth and claws that glinted in the dark. Alois shuddered and started walking along a gray stone path, leading into the trees.

As he went further in, he noticed signs pointing every direction. They were all different colors and hung on the trees. The all read something along the lines of _'this way'_, _'that way'_,_ 'there' _or _'here'_. The biggest and the one at the top of the tree in front of Alois was labeled _'The Tulgey Wood'_.

Alois looked around and sighed sadly. "Now where do I go..." he frowned.

Suddenly he heard a voice very close to his ear and felt warm breath on the back of his neck. "that depends on where you want to get." The voice was smooth and calm, with a definite undertone of mockery.

Alois held in a scream of shock, but just barely. He spun around but no one was there. "Who's there!"

"Must you upsiders talk so loudly?" The voice purred from behind him again. Alois spun around and again, there was no one.

"Come out and show yourself! Right now!" Alois was starting to feel more annoyed than afraid.

And the owner of the voice did just that. A pair of glowing green eyes materialized from within the darkness, right in front of Alois. They were joined slowly by a mouth, twisted into a terrifying grin then a face that was evenly tanned. How do you get any sun in a place like this? Alois found himself thinking. Soon an entire person stood, mere inches away from Alois.

The figure before him was a man with long, midnight blue hair, green cat eyes and a large fang-toothed smile. The rest of his skin had the same even, perfect tan and it was obvious by the way he dressed, that the man was in no hurry to hide it. He wore a black half-shirt with a turtle neck and no sleeves and purple and pink striped suspenders that were latched onto a pair of black pinstripe slacks. There were four horizontal slits on either side of his pants and he wore no shoes. His belly button was pierced and there were intricate tattoos on his stomach, arms and most likely his legs as well. Two cat ears poked from the top of his head and a cat tail swished from behind him.

He smirked down at Alois and Alois looked up at him in shock. "Wh-who are you?"

The man gave a sweeping circus bow and laughed. "My name is Valentine. I am the Cheshire Cat. And you, I see, are our new Alice. How very nice to meet you." He took Alois' hand and planted a kiss on the back of it. Alois shuddered and pulled his hand away.

"Actually my name is Alois."

Valentine laughed softly and straightened up from his bow. He was about six feet tall and Alois felt himself frown. _Is everyone taller than me here?_

"Alois Liddel? I'm not sure if that was unintentional or just sick wordplay on your mother's part." Valentine smirked. "Well, little Alois. Would you care to play a game?"

Alois blinked in confusion. "...What do you mean a 'game'?"

Valentine raised a thin eyebrow and explained with exaggerated patience, "A game. You know. A silly folly that people partake in for fun and amusement?"

Alois glared, but let it go. "What kind of game?"

"Just a little bet. If you win, then I'll make it so you can be human again and go live on the upside with your rescued parents and have a happy little life again."

"How did you know about my parents. And about that thing I drank to make me one of you?" Alois frowned.

Valentine grinned. "Oh, I'm a huge gossip, darling, and news gets around fast." He returned to his explanation. "If I win...If I win, I get to eat you."

Alois stared at him dumbstruck. "You...you eat people?"

Valentine looked confused. "Well, yeah. We're a little short on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches down here." He smirked. "The conditions are simple. I'll be following you and helping you along here and there. If you cry even one tear, I win." He held out his thin, long fingered hand and purred, "Deal...?"

Alois swallowed hard and shook his hand slowly. "Y-yeah...deal..."

Valentine grinned and his eyes glowed excitedly. "Wonderful. And just in time too! We've got company."

**AN: DAMN! The word count on this was like...1,000 more words than usual! HOLY SHIT! Here i am just sippin' on dr. pepper mixed with coke a cola, typin' like a maniac! I didn't mean to!**

**Please REVIEWWWWW**


	4. Chapter 4

**AFTER A VERY VERY LOOOONG TIME **

**insert usual disclaimer.  
**

* * *

Alois froze, perfectly still, and, for a moment, considered whether or not this 'Valentine' was telling the truth. He would have pondered on this thought longer had it not been for two things; The first being the sudden realization of just what was happening hit him dead on in the face. He was standing here in a forest that looked like it had been colored by a child who didn't know which colors were for what, having just lost his parents then being told that they weren't his parents, watched as his grandma/mother was turned to dust by a freaking pocket watch and now...now he had made a bet that could result in him becoming lunch for an enigmatic cat-man.

Speaking of Valentine, he was now looking right at Alois with an expression of curiosity mixed with a supercilious, condescending smirk. "Yoo-hoo, Wonderland to Alice? Come in, Alice?" He raised a clawed hand and patted either side of Alois' face.

The blond growled as his temper began to rise. "yeah, yeah, I hear you! And my name is Alois. Not Alice."

Valentine rolled his eyes skyward. "Right. So, Alice, I'm guessing you lost your brain function a little after I said 'we've got company', eh?"

Alois frowned. "whats that supposed to me-"

But the teenager never got to finish that thought. There was a sharp whistling noise and the delicate skin on his cheek was easily sliced by a sharp object that was thrown. He had turned his head just in time to avoid it but the heavy THUNK that followed told him that if he hadn't, he'd be deader than dead.

He turned toward the sound slowly and swallowed hard past the lump that was rapidly forming in his throat. In the tree trunk just behind his head, a long, cleaver-like knife was imbedded deeply in the thick bark. A red, thick liquid seeped down the tree's trunk to pool on the ground.

"The trees bleed...?" was all he could manage to say.

Valentine shot him an exasperated glance. "Of course they do, aren't trees on the upside alive too? Anyway, we've got two bigger things to deal with."

"You mangy feline! I'll skin you alive!" said a deep voice with a heavy accent that Alois couldn't quite place. The blond turned again and followed Valentine's lazy gaze to the owner of the voice. Or, rather, owners.

Not far in front of them, partially hidden by the shadows of the trees, stood two people, identical to one another in every aspect. They were both short compered to Valentine, but taller than Alois. They were both very fat with dark ugly faces, covered in scars and marks. They wore striped shirts under dirty tattered suit jackets with a name tag on each of them. The one on the left read "Tweedle Dee" and the other read "Tweedle Dum".

They stepped into the full light simultaneously. I felt a shudder run through me. In each of their hands, they held sharp knives just like the one that had almost his Alois in the head. Their shirts were stained with blood and dirt and it seemed that they were literally conjoined at the hip. Not naturally, however. there was a long sloppy stitched scar connecting them and, judging by the blood and bits of intestines leaking from them, the stitches were loose.

"We've been sent by the queen to kill this one!" The one named Dee shouted, pointing one of his blades at me.

"No, no, no!" disagreed Dum loudly. "She wants him alive!"

"No, we's s'possed to kill him!"

"No, stupid!"

Valentine seemed to grow weary of this. "How about this, I'll kill the both of you for trying to take away my dinner."

A simultaneous "Huh?" issued from both of the Tweedles as Valentine was suddenly mere inches from them, drawing two thin silver daggers from two thigh sheathes one on either of his legs. The two twins brought all four of their weapons up to block but they were much to slow. Valentine's movements took less than a split-second and Alois knew that if he blinked, he would have missed it. The cat-man had flipped both his weapons in his grip to stab instead of cut. He plunged the blades up to their hilts into the chests of the twins. Alois watched in awe as the life drained from their bodies and they slumped limply like heavy sacks of potatoes. Valentine's nose wrinkled in disgust and he tore his daggers from their corpses. He wiped the Tweedle's blood off of the slim silver blades on the grass and sheathed them once more.

"Well, then." He turned back to face Alois but when he did, a purple smoke began to swirl up from the corpses, enveloping them both. Alois suddenly found it impossible to breath. His eyes drooped and his head spun. He heard Valentine's voice, filled with subtle anger and disappointment. "Dammit, this again...?"

The voice rang in Alois' head as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Valentine thought it a good time to vanish.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"March! March, come over here and look at this!"

"Hm?"

"That's a human, March. An upsider! Do you think this means the Queen has taken another Alice? She must be getting weak!"

"...Viktor..."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Light shone through onto Alois' face.

The warm glow woke him gently from his blackout. His cerulean eyes fluttered open and his vision cleared slowly. He stared up at a white ceiling with a large skylight. The sun shone in from above. The sky was blue and cloudless.

Hmm...? Was it all a dream...? My math class has a skylight like this... He relaxed into the comfortable bed beneath him. He let out a sigh of relief but froze as his happy thoughts came crashing to a halt. Wait...bed...?

He shot up into a sitting position and looked frantically to either side of him. The room he was in was completely unfamiliar to him. It was clean and plain with white walls and hardwood floors with a large, blue, plush rug. There was a large dresser in the corner and an uncluttered desk against a wall. There were two, wall-height bookcases, completely full.

The door creaked open and a person walked in. It took Alois to fully comprehend this person. They were tall, but only a bit taller than him. Their height was exaggerated by high-heeled boots. They wore tight-fitting black leather pants and a loose, black, off the shoulders top. They had long, choppy-cut, red hair. A very pretty face with deep black eyes looked at him expectantly. Going by the look of the person's face, they must be a girl and a few years older than Alois.

She was carrying a tray of food over to him, bare feet hardly making a sound. Two long soft-looking rabbit ears stuck up from her head, the color matching her hair. She set it down in Alois' lap and turned to leave.

"M-miss! Wait! Wh-where am I...?"

She turned back around and raised a crimson eyebrow. "...Human...Follow..."

He stood up and set the tray of food aside on the desk. He followed the girl out of the door and into a hall then out a glass door into a cultivated and beautiful garden. There were bushes of hundreds of different colored roses. In the center stood a young man with long black hair in a pony tail. He wore a tailored orange vest with a bright blue tie and lime green suit large top hat that sat on his head was a swirling mix of green, red and purple. He turned his ice-blue gaze towards Alois and smiled.

"Ah, you're awake."

The girl raised her hand steadily to point at the strange man. "...Viktor..." She labeled him and turned away. Walking back to the house.

Alois blinked. "M-miss, wait!"

The man called Viktor chuckled. "Don't pay any mind. That's just March. Very anti-social." He shook his head. "And by the way? March is a boy."


End file.
